My Feedback - Dear Pehr

Dear Pehr,

Remember me? Probably not. I'm just another long-time member (almost 9 years) and I've contributed 1300 + reviews with almost 1.5 million hits.

But here's my feedback on Epinions - the website.

Your number one draw has always been about the community. Yes - even through all of the glitches - the search engine, the lack of continuity across the categories, and the backwardness of the UI (that's user interface for folks who are wondering) - people were okay with dealing with these challenges because of the "community" aspect.

And let me define just a couple of community aspects for you.

1) Our opinions/feedback - regardless of our rank and file - were acknowledged and appreciated by Epinions Management.

2) Our reviews were personal experiences, embraced by our peers - not for their length or degree of technical specifications - but because they embraced the spirit of sharing product experience - from one average consumer to another.

3) Everyone (generically) felt that regardless of the technical difficulties the site encountered, that Epinions Management put the community up high as a priority.

4) Epinions members felt a personal stake in the successful continuation of this site.

Over time, Epinions has become less and less about the community and more and more about something else (which seems less articulated since shopping.com was purchased by eBay).

Being the optimist I am however, I have great love for many of the people here. In a small way, I refused to give up. Instead, I told myself that I would come back and write and read and rate when the spirit moved me.

And I've tried. And although some of the people I adore are still here, this site (for me) is on life support (both from a community and web 2.0 perspective).

Everything (over time) has become "big brother" and there is a general lack of trust for community members. But see, I was pretty naive to that - that is - until I started interacting with two other social/community-related web sites.

One in particular (a relatively new site) - The Experience Project - http://www.theexperienceproject.com - has really opened my eyes to what I've been missing from Epinions.

It embraces everything that I used to love about the community aspects of Epinions.

And the web 2.0 features? They totally rock! I can upload pictures, I can share experiences (which include product reviews and personal stories), I can recommend related books, movies, music, I can recommend others stories, I can customize my profile page, I can write a blog - I can do so many things and the freedom which I feel - well - it's pretty frickin' awesome.

I don't have to worry about "titles" or getting paid a few pennies. People read my stuff because something I write about matters to them. And how do I know that? Because there is no reason for them to do so - no financial or title carrot which drives a type of behavior which could question their motivation.

And guess what? In the month since I have been a member, I have reached out to their customer support group around 6 times - anything from small bugs to questions not addressed in their FAQ's.

Here's an example of the first response I get back to acknowledge I've submitted a question.

Hi!

Thanks for contacting Experience Project with a support-related question. We are a tiny team and we are working hard to make sure we build a better site each day. Answering your questions, and taking your feedback into consideration as we develop and refine new features, is incredibly important to us. But we do ask that you give us some time-- maybe even 48 hours to respond to your note (please follow up if you haven't heard from us by then).

In the meanwhile, you may find answers to common questions at our FAQ page:

http://www.experienceproject.com/faq.php

If you happen to resolve your issue ahead of our responding, please do send us a note to let us know.

Thanks for spending some of your time with us-- we really appreciate it.

All our best,
-Team Experience Project
http://www.experienceproject.com/

And then guess what?

When I do receive a reply (which so far - has been within 48 hours - and sometimes the same day) I am blown away at how "nicely" I am treated.

So why am I writing this all to you Pehr?

Because, it took participation in another site for me to "get" just how much I missed what used to be with Epinions. And now, I am past the denial - I am in total acceptance that whatever Epinions direction is - it's a direction that puts the overall community at a lower priority than what it used to be.

And although it makes me sad, the clarity has been a godsend. Now I can remember Epinions in its glory days – because for several years – it was the premiere web community leader. And I was a part of that. I’ll never regret joining up on December 17, 1999. I’m proud of how much I grew from the experience. I’m thankful for the friendships that have come out of my involvement with Epinions and I’ll carry those forward regardless of whatever web community I take part in.

I have no plans to close my account or take down my past contributions to the site. Instead, moving forward, I’ll be utilizing a different site to share my thoughts with those who really are looking for unbiased, consumer-related experiences.

I wish you and the eBay management team well in your future endeavors.

* Note to readers of this letter – you may leave a comment (I’ll read) – but I will not be responding to it. While you can and may disagree with me on the content of this letter, I do not see anything productive in arguing my points any further. I am at peace with my decision.

You can keep in contact with me on facebook (see my profile page) or via email.